FORT HUACHUCA, Ariz. – Directorate of Emergency Services personnel joined the City of Sierra Vista’s annual National Night Out event Oct. 3 at Veterans Memorial Park giving hundreds of families an opportunity to interact with law enforcement and emergency personnel in a fun, positive manner.
Agencies from around the county took part, including the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office and Search & Rescue, Sierra Vista Fire Department and Police Department, area K-9 units, Huachuca City Police Department, and Border Patrol. The fort was also well represented by members of the Fort Huachuca Police Department, Fire Department and Criminal Investigation Division.
Bounce houses, food trucks and characters in costume rounded out the fun.
This year was the 40th anniversary of the National Night Out program, which began as a community-building campaign to bring together residents and law enforcement officials to build safer neighborhoods. The idea encouraged interactions between citizens and law enforcement agencies in a fun and positive way to create a stronger community. Thousands of cities across the United States take part in National Night Out, either on the first Tuesday in August, or like in Sierra Vista, on the first Tuesday in October.
Fort Huachuca’s Chief of Police Greg Davidson explained why he thought this was an important event for the community.
“All the law enforcement, first responders in the area, come out for National Night Out to show support for the community and to let the community support us,” he said.
Andrew Deimund, the fort’s captain of Police Operations, explained that it was important for families and children to see the police in a positive manner.
“It’s good [for them] to see a real face,” he said. “People have a misconception [about] law enforcement, but coming out here, we’re approachable, we’re doing fun stuff with the kids, and it teaches a positive image and gives back to the community in that way.”
The agencies represented used a variety of ways to interact with the children, including goody bags, plastic helmets or badges, and many had their vehicles open so kids could sit in them and work the sirens and lights.
Many kids said their favorite part of the evening was sitting in the medevac helicopter or the fire truck.
The Fort Huachuca Military Police had a slightly different way to allow kids to be “hands-on” with their vehicles.
“We brought our brand-new cop car down here for kids,” Davidson said. “They get to paint their hands [with face paint] and put their handprints on it. It’s something fun for the kids to do and allows them to interact with the cops on a positive level, where we just enjoy each other.”
Apparently lots of kids did enjoy it, because by the end of the evening, the brand-new cop car was completely covered in handprints.
Another highlight of the evening was the inaugural fly-over for the sheriff’s new helicopter, nicknamed Hawkeye. The chopper flew three low circles around Veterans Memorial Park much to excitement of the kids.
When asked why he thought it was important for Fort Huachuca law enforcement agencies to come out for the National Night Out, Davidson said, it’s “because we are all one community.
“Whether it’s outside the gate, or inside the gate, we all work together, and we support each other,” he said. “We all have the same mission.”
The mission Tuesday night was all about the kids.
(Editor's note: The complete photo album is available at 2023-10-3 Sierra Vista National Night Out | Flickr.)
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Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th Army Signal Command and more than 48 supported tenants representing a diverse, multiservice population. Our unique environment encompasses 946 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected electronic ranges, key components to the national defense mission.
Located in Cochise County, in southeast Arizona, about 15 miles north of the border with Mexico, Fort Huachuca is an Army installation with a rich frontier history. Established in 1877, the Fort was declared a national landmark in 1976.
We are the Army’s Home. Learn more at https://home.army.mil/huachuca/.
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